November 4, 2022
Isha is a recent graduate of the University of Texas with a degree in creative writing--she even took the coveted Matthew McConaughey class. Her Indian American family expects her to make something of her degree or find a "real" job. Isha does have her best friend and cousin Rohan, a fellow black sheep, nearby. After the two cousins have a rough night out at a bar in Austin, Isha gets a call from her elusive agent that she has a last-minute pitch meeting. The meeting does not go well, and her agent then drops her. Rohan comes to the rescue by trying to set up a meeting with McConaughey himself at the same bar from the night before. What follows is an improbable sequence of events, including a bartender/love interest saving Isha and Rohan from a sticky situation. Isha does pick up the pieces and start to figure out how she wants to make her life. VERDICT The romance between Isha and Tarik the bartender is sweet, but much of the rest of the story feels clunky. Recommended for libraries where Patel's (First Love, Take Two) previous works are popular.--Kristen Stewart
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 30, 2023
Patel (First Love, Take Two) follows an aspiring 20-something screenwriter in her middling latest. Isha, unable to get her script picked up, pieces together freelance work and lives with her traditional Indian parents, who don’t hide their worry and disappointment at Isha’s failure to land a stable job and husband. After Isha’s cousin Rohan suggests that her big break could come from Matthew McConaughey, Isha’s former professor, Isha engages in various shenanigans—some more drunken than others—to get the movie star to read her script. Despite disapproval from her family and a tendency for self-deprecation, Isha’s support from Rohan (whose loyalty earns him the moniker “Brohan”) and a potential love interest she comically dubs “Thirst-Trap” keeps her afloat. The themes of rigid parental expectations versus self-fulfillment among Asian American families are well-trod, and Patel adds little to that discussion, though Isha’s emotional confrontation with her parents will tug at some readers’ heartstrings. For a story about scriptwriting, Patel’s pacing is pretty slack, focusing too much on Isha and Rohan’s antics and leaving most major plot points unresolved. There’s not a whole lot here, though Patel’s fans will enjoy it. Agent: Katelyn Deitweiler, Jill Grinberg Literary.
February 1, 2023
Isha is living at home after being laid off. Her parents are disappointed in her, from how long it took her to get her degree to her pursuit of screenwriting. Her agent sends her to a pitch meeting that goes spectacularly bad, then breaks off their professional relationship. Her close cousin, Rohan, takes her out to cheer her up, leading to way too much indulging, which inspires an attempt to break into the home of her former professor, Matthew McConaughey, to show him her script. Along the way, they encounter a scary clown, a security guard, and Tarik, a handsome and friendly bartender who helps them escape without getting arrested. Isha learns that her family is planning an intervention to try and make her get a 9-to-5 job and lead a life they'll approve of, but she is determined to find happiness according to her own rules. Tarik and cousin Rohan are very strong characters as they offer her unwavering support. Isha's struggle against family expectations takes humorous and surprising turns, and readers will laugh and cheer her on.
COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
February 15, 2023
When a 28-year-old aspiring screenwriter gets dropped by her agent, she tries to pitch her script to her former University of Texas professor Matthew McConaughey. In the eyes of her strict Indian parents, Isha Patel is little more than a disappointment. She's 28, living at home, and a two-time college dropout who was majoring in, gasp, theater and film. Isha manages to make ends meet on a meager salary from her freelance communications job, but her dream is to become a famous screenwriter. She tells herself that her latest script, The Avenged, is her " 'lucky eight, ' because it turned out that 'lucky seven' wasn't a thing after all and we were way past 'third time's a charm.' " Isha knows that she'll succeed soon enough--how can she not when she was mentored by UT royalty Matthew McConaughey in a screenwriting class, even if that was years ago already? While waiting for her agent to book meetings with producers, she spends most of her time hanging out with her younger cousin Rohan. He introduces Isha to a new pub run by two brothers who just happen to have a connection to McConaughey. Isha swoons over Tarik, one of the brothers whom she immediately nicknames Thirst-Trap. Wildly hungover from a night of sampling Tarik's fruity drinks, she bombs a last-minute pitch meeting her agent set up for her. Her agent promptly drops her, and a second, more self-pitying trip to the pub with Rohan leads to bar fighting, dumpster diving, and breaking into the grounds of McConaughey's Texas estate...just in case he'd like to read a few pages of her script. Patel's latest rom-com is full of slapstick humor, but Isha's missteps often feel cringeworthy. Her clumsiness is more exasperating than endearing, and it's a wonder that Rohan and Tarik put up with her drunken charades. Good for a few laughs but ultimately unsatisfying.
COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.